God, Suffering, and Omniscience

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Rudavsky
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Basic Fact ◽  
Future Contingents ◽  
Divine Omniscience ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Suffering God

The topic of divine predication leads more broadly to issues surrounding divine omniscience, freedom, and evil. The question of why the righteous suffer remains one of the most intractable issues in philosophical theology. More generally, the very concept of a caring deity who is both omniscient and omnipotent gives rise to a logical dilemma: if God is omniscient, then God knows past, present, and future contingents; if God is omnipotent, then God can actualize any state of affairs; if God is benevolent, then presumably God wishes the best possible state of affairs for God’s creatures; and yet we cannot help but recognize the basic fact that the righteous suffer. And so, given the ineluctable reality of human suffering, God is either not omniscient, or not omnipotent, or not benevolent. Jewish philosophers struggle to address these problems.

Divine Omniscience and the Soteriological Problem of Evil: Is the Type of Knowledge God Possesses Relevant?

1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
David Basinger
Keyword(s):  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Divine Omniscience ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
Do So

The problem of evil normally discussed in philosophical theology is concerned with the pain and suffering experienced in this life. Why do so many innocent children die slow, torturous deaths as the result of disease, famine or earthquakes? Why do so many seemingly innocent adults suffer as the result of the greed, indifference or perversity of others? If God is all-good, then he certainly does not want such suffering. If God is all-powerful, he should be able to do away with such evils. Thus, must we not conclude that the existence of such evil counts against belief in the existence of an all-loving, all-powerful God?

scholarly journals Animal Suffering, God and Lessons from the Book of Job

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1047
Author(s):  
Georg Gasser
Keyword(s):  
Main Part ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Animal Suffering ◽  
Book Of Job ◽  
Concept Of God ◽  
Suffering God

Nature shows itself to us in ambivalent ways. Breathtaking beauty and cruelty lie close together. A Darwinian image of nature seems to imply that nature is a mere place of violence, cruelty and mercilessness. In this article, I first explore the question of whether such an interpretation of nature is not one-sided by being phrased in overly moral terms. Then, I outline how the problem of animal suffering relates to a specific understanding of God as moral agent. Finally, in the main part of the argumentation, I pursue the question to what extent the problem of animal (and human) suffering does not arise for a concept of God couched in less personalistic terms. If God’s perspective towards creation is rather de-anthropocentric, then moral concerns might be of less importance as we generally assume. Such an understanding of the divine is by no means alien to the biblical-theistic tradition. I argue that it finds strong echoes in the divine speeches in the Book of Job: They aim at teaching us to accept both the beauty and the tragic of existence in a creation that seen in its entirety is rather a-moral. Finally, I address the question what such a concept of God could mean for our existence.

scholarly journals Alternate Possibilities, Divine Omniscience and Critique of Judgement §76

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Kimberly Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Human Freedom ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Divine Omniscience ◽  
Modal Metaphysics ◽  
Divine Mind ◽  
Alternate Possibilities ◽  
Rule Out

Abstract A philosophically and historically influential section of the Critique of Judgement presents an ‘intuitive intellect’ as a mind whose representation is limited to what actually exists, and does not extend to mere possibilities. Kant’s paradigmatic instance of such an intellect is however also the divine mind. This combination threatens to rule out the reality of the mere possibilities presupposed by Kant’s theory of human freedom. Through an analysis of the relevant issues in metaphysical cosmology, modal metaphysics and philosophical theology, I show that Kant in fact possesses the resources to reconcile the philosophical claims of §76 of the Critique of Judgement with his keystone commitment to the reality of human freedom.

Prayers for the past

2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEVIN TIMPE
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
The State ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
States Of Affairs ◽  
The Past ◽  
State Of Affairs

All three of the world's major monotheistic religions traditionally affirm that petitionary prayers can be causally efficacious in bringing about certain states of affairs. Most of these prayers are offered before the state of affairs that they are aimed at helping bring about. In the present paper, I explore the possibility of whether petitionary prayers for the past can also be causally efficacious. Assuming an incompatibilist account of free will, I examine four views in philosophical theology (simple foreknowledge, eternalism, Molinism, and openism) and argue that the first three have the resources to account for the efficacy of past-directed prayers, while the latter does not. I further suggest that on those views which affirm the possible efficacy of past-directed petitionary prayers, such prayers can be ‘impetratory’ even if the agent already knows that the desired state of affairs has obtained.

Does God have Beliefs?

1986 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 287-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
William P. Alston
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Divine Foreknowledge ◽  
Justified Belief ◽  
Divine Omniscience ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Fourth Component ◽  
Classic Argument

Beliefs are freely attributed to God nowadays in Anglo–American philosophical theology. This practice undoubtedly reflects the twentieth–century popularity of the view that knowledge consists of true justified belief (perhaps with some needed fourth component). (After all no one supposes that God has beliefs in addition to, or instead of knowledge.) The connection is frequently made explicit. If knowledge is true justified belief then whatever God knows He believes. It would seem that much recent talk of divine beliefs stems from Nelson Pike's widely discussed article, ‘Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action’. In this essay Pike develops a version of the classic argument for the incompatibility of divine foreknowledge and free will in terms of divine forebelief. He introduces this shift by premising that ‘A knows X’ entails ‘A believes X’. As a result of all this, philosophers have increasingly been using the concept of belief in defining ‘omniscience’.

Gersonides (1288–1344)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seymour Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Divine Omniscience ◽  
The World ◽  
Future Contingent ◽  
Magnum Opus ◽  
Biblical Commentaries ◽  
Ex Nihilo ◽  
Levi Ben Gershom

Living all his life in southern France, Levi ben Gershom, known as Gersonides in Latin texts, was an accomplished astronomer and mathematician as well as a philosopher. A prolific and engaged exegete, Gersonides wrote biblical commentaries that are still studied today. His philosophical magnum opus, Milhamot ha-Shem (The Wars of the Lord), reached original and often unorthodox conclusions regarding many of the great issues of medieval philosophical theology. It denied creation ex nihilo, preferring a modified version of the doctrine of formatio mundi traditionally ascribed to Plato (formation of the world from pre-existing matter). It qualified traditional doctrines of divine omniscience by denying God’s determinate knowledge of future contingent events. And it confined personal immortality to the rational portion of the soul, that is, the intellect.

Divine Omniscience, Immutability, Aseity and Human Free Will

1991 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Philosophical Theology ◽  
Strict Sense ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Classical Theism ◽  
Divine Omniscience ◽  
External Influences

If classical Western theism is correct that God's timeless omniscience is compatible with human free will, then it is incoherent to hold that this God can in any strict sense be immutable and a se as well as omniscient. That is my thesis. ‘Classical theism’ shall refer here to the tradition of philosophical theology centring on such mainstream authors as Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas. ‘Divine omniscience’ shall mean that the eternal God knows all events as a timeless observer of them. ‘Human free will’ shall mean that human beings are, at least sometimes, self-determining agents who make choices not decisively caused to be what they are by external or internal factors other than the free willing itself – choices that these agents have the capacity and the freedom to make differently than they do. Except where stipulated otherwise, ‘divine immutability’ shall ‘mean that God is neither subject to, nor capable of, change in being, knowing, or willing, since God is immune to external influences, and without internal needs, of the sorts that might give rise to such change. Finally, ‘aseity’ shall be used to underline the divine immunity to external influences, since a being that is wholly a se or self-caused (is ‘pure act’ in the Thomistic sense), cannot be open to such influences, cannot be made to be what or how it is by anything other than itself.

scholarly journals Human Suffering and Theological Construction of Suffering

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Sonny Eli Zaluchu
Keyword(s):  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
The Way ◽  
Suffering God

Suffering, as a natural part of life, will be burdensome and burdensome when we respond in the wrong way. Therefore, it is necessary to have a theological construction so that humans can survive and pass through their sufferings victoriously. This paper aims to build a theological response to human suffering by proposing the presence of a theology of suffering. It can be concluded that through the theology of suffering, suffering humans can accept suffering as God's sovereignty. This theology also builds on the understanding that the way of suffering can identify God. The suffering experienced by humans does not come immediately because it has a unique purpose for everyone. It is also found that in the theology of suffering, God suffered through the death of His Son on the Cross for the benefit of humanity. This paper is written entirely with an analytic approach by relying on various theories and interpretations of Bible verses through in-depth literature studies ABSTRAK: Penderitaan sebagai bagian alami kehidupan, akan menjadi sesesuatu yang membebani dan menjerumuskan ketika ditanggapi dengan cara yang salah. Oleh sebab itu, diperlukan kehadiran sebuah konstuksi teologis agar manusia dapat bertahan dan melewati penderitaanya dengan kemenangan. Paper ini bertujuan untuk membangun tanggap teologis terhadap penderitaan manusia dengan mengusulkan kehadiran teologi penderitaan. Disimpulkan bahwa melalui teologi penderitaan, manusia yang menderita dapat menerima penderitaan sebagai sebuah kedaulatan Tuhan. Teologi ini juga membangun pengertian bahwa Allah dapat dikenali melalui jalan penderitaan. Penderitaan yang dialami manusia tidak hadir serta merta karena memiliki tujuan khas bagi setiap orang. Juga ditemukan bahwa di dalam sebuah teologi penderitaan, Allah ikut menderita melalui kematian anak-Nya di atas Salib untuk kepentingan manusia. Paper ini sepenuhnya ditulis dengan pendekatan analitik dengan mengandalkan berbagai teori dan tafsiran ayat-ayat Alkitab melalui pendalaman kajian pustaka.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document